Bad Grandma

Several days ago, I told Daughter I would keep the two younger ones while she and Lady Bug went to the first night of the swim meet (that I will talk about later).

She called last night to see how I was doing.  Well, since Simone looked ready to spew again, and I was having the rumbly tumbly again, I said not well.  It was then she reminded me of my promise.  She decided that the kids wouldn't be coming here.

I have to admit.  Even though my guilt was palpable, I was not disappointed that I wouldn't be picking the kids up from school and keeping them for about four hours.  The way I feel right now I think I could do it.  Simone seems to be ok, but that is a tenuous condition with her.

I love those kids, but they can be quite a drain.  At their house, they own the TV.  That isn't true here.  The Disney Channel drives me absolutely nuts. Plus they want to watch those pre-teen sit-coms.  Have you ever sat through even 10 minutes of that stuff?  Horrible.

So, the title "Bad Grandma" is a true fit.  I really am not up to it.

I also wonder if I am up to the craft show this weekend.  This is the only one I do these days.  And it is only 4 hours - 5 if you count set-up.  The swim meet means that Daughter and LB won't be able to help - because of the swim meet that lasts three days.  My new "partner" has her hands full with her aging parents who are both exhibiting severe signs of dementia.  She emailed me with the fact she and her daughters don't have much to add to the sale.

I am about to email her to ask if she just wants to pull the plug.  I know she would like to get into the craft shows to add to her income - especially when she retires.

Don't know what I want to do.  To top it all off, the coordinator of the craft show is changing how we check in and set up.  I had the other way down pat.  Now I am not sure if I can handle this way.

Oh, decisions!

Oh - surprise!

I was whining saying that my arthritis was really getting me down.  How I didn't want to do anything, slept on the couch under a throw and all.  Well - it wasn't my arthritis.

With six little petri dishes around me for Thanksgiving, I believe they shared their gift with me.  Night before last, I became really gassy (TMI - sorry).  Well about midnight all that changed, and that end of my body kept me really busy all night.

Yesterday was some better, but today ..  Well let's just say things don't look promising for any shopping trips.

I hate this.  I really haven't gotten sick in ages.  I don't like being sick. I try to stay away from sick people.  As I was telling Daughter about my lament, she was saying they were rather rumbly in the tumbly also.  But then, that entire family always has whatever someone else has.  I swear SIL tries to have menstrual migranes also.  If she gets a headache - he has one too.  So I have a gastric problem - they have one too.

So it looks like I will be close friends with "john" again today.  I would take something, but it is best to let it all work its way out.  So I will let it do just that.

Now that I have shared yet another secret of my life with you, I shall leave you.

Zero, zip, zilch

That's what I accomplished today.  This is one of the few Texas days that is chilly and cloudy.  I don't know if it is all in my head or a true disorder, but my arthritis has been screaming today.  I have done something that I haven't done in ages - slept on the couch with a throw over me.

When I get like this, my body tells me that it wants to submerge in a tub of HOT water.  Well - I can't do that.  Since the new knees, I can't get on my knees in the tub.  And since my legs are really rather weak, and I have sciata, I have to get on my knees to get out.  So a+b= no soaking.

Ah, another day of whining.  Let me look, I'll bet I have some cheese around here.  Would make a nice snack.

Lasr night I slept on the tempurpedic again, but it didn't ease my back.  I also didn't take the drugs because I was hoping for some relief.

It is so good to be home,  I just can't keep from saying that.  It isn't really all that different from the SSB, except it is home.  A place I haven't been around for long.

I nearly have all the Christmas shopping done.  I was able to go to the only major toy store left to get the youngest shopping from their wish list.  The older ones - Daughter always buys extra, so I benefit there.  I even took advantage of a Cyber-Monday sale last night to get my Kindle Fire.  It was $30 off.  So that meant I could get the cover.

So - I guess I did get something done after all!

OMG!!!!

We walked in the house about 4:15 this afternoon.  This is after being gone for ten (10) days.  It is soooo nice to be home - even though the SSB is a home, but still.

A few minutes ago (6:45) G asked me when we were going back.  Originally it was after Christmas.  I was on board with that.  Then he said "that's over 4 weeks,  I don't want to wait that long.  SIL was talking about Dec 12 for a trip for he  and his friend (the contractor for all of us when we need him).  So G said he was thinking about the 10th to 17th so we would be back for Daughter's birthday.

I  finally told him I am sick and tired of travel.  I have had it.  Stick a fork in me, I am done.   And I am.  We have been gone way too much in the last two months.

I also feel better about my decision.  I did leave it open.  I can change my mind if I want.  Right now - I doubt it!

"Ear Worm"

Yesterday, as the last ones were pulling out early, an old Roy Clark song kept running through my head.  It was "Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone."  Now I really don't mean to be that glad, but it was really good to see the last of the crew leave.  They are the older grandkids, and really have settled down, but still I am used to a quiet place.  And it wasn't.

Lady Bug got her mom and me to take her out driving.  The first place we chose really wasn't good.  Way too close to the house and other cars.  The private road to our road is too small, and the cattle guard at the top of the hill is one I don't like driving through.  It is NARROW!  So we took her to the county road.  She did so well.

Of course, at almost 12 the hormones are raging.  She was furious with Dad and Brother because they were out doing things (forgot about the driving, eh), and she didn't get to shoot the .22.  Lots of tears,  Glad I don't have to deal with that daily.

This evening has been spent washing most of the dirty clothes.  I will wait until the next time to pull sheets and wash them.   So glad the septic system cooperated.  Of course, and this is probably TMI, DIL was being visited by her monthly friend.  I am afraid the tampons went down.  I didn't know that fact until they were gone.

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  It was good.  Don't get me wrong.  But I am glad we won't be here for the holiday next year.  The house is just too small, but it's Louisiana for son's family next year. So there wouldn't be a large number here.

As for my internet capabilities here.  Frankly and honestly, satellite almost bites the big one.  Sorry - not a nice way to put it, but I am very disappointed,  Most of the time I have been blocked out of things - especially Facebook.  Not a happy camper here.   Last month I thought it worked better.,  Then I thourhg it was all the I-phones and the like pulling the siignal, but it should be great now.  And it's not.

But homeward bound tomorrow!!

Oh thankful Thanksgiving is over

Beginning Wednesday, we had the houseful. Things went fairly well although I was "walking on eggshells" because Monday night, when  Simone decided  to have one of her spells always puts me on edge.

The first wave got here about 12:30 Wednesday morning.  I had given up waiting because  I was sleep deprived from staying up with Simone Monday night.  We didn't hear them at all, but Shadow was freaked out again.  For some reason, he didn't come in the bedroom before we closed the door.  He really didn't expect "company" to come in.

Wednesday we went to town to leave a mattress set that will be given to a family that lost everything in a fire.  That gave the kids time to play in the park and things like that.

The other group was here when we got back.  That's when the noise really started.  Between children crying for whatever reason, the baby screaming to get attention, the real noise came from my darling daughter.  She has always been loud, but oh. my. gosh.  She  was above ever one else.  For  better or worse, when she gets on her kids, she is loud.  She gets louder.

The problem with Simone is that probably she was badly abused.  When I used a certain tone around her, she will hide.  Daughter uses this tone with her kids a lot.  I know that upset Simone.  I thought I had Simone  drugged enough to not let this bother her, but no.

As I was trying to get the rest of the dinner ready yesterday, they brought all the kids in.  The noise level was so high, Daughter was very loud, and, you guessed it, Simone spewed again.

Needless to say, I wasn't in a very good mood yesterday.  I hated to be that way, I am sure I wasn't a very warm  loving mother/mother-in-law/grandmother.  When I am on edge - I am not a great person at all.  Things really bother me.

But - half are now gone, all the dinner pressure is over and things are becoming more normal.  Hopefully all the nausea is over.  I drugged her food this morning, and probably will again this evening!!!

Remember me??

Um, hi.  My name if Grandma K.  I come around here sometimes.  At least I used to be a regular visitor.  Lately I haven't been doing much of anything blog worthy since most of my time has been spent slaving over a hot embroidery machine.  I only had a few days to get all my battery operated tea-light covers done for the craft show that comes up on the 2nd of December.

So did I finish - in  a word no.  Why do I suddenly have time away from the machine - simple - I am away from the machine, house, and city.  Yep, we are at the SSB.  That means no machine.  I also didn't bring anything that I could use the plain machine here to work on.  I really won't have time.

Nothing like turning to one's poor little ignored blog to keep from doing a deep cleaning of floors to get ready for the crawler grand kids.  We have been here since Friday, and I have used every excuse to not do the floors until now.  Well, time is up.  The first wave of kids/grandkids arrive tonight.  Late tonight.

For two and a half days there will be between 12 and 13 of us in this house.  Oh, and plus Simone and Shadow.  In honor of the occasion Simone decided that last night was a good night for her periodic vomiting events.  Hopefully she got it out of her system.  She spewed for the first time at 9:30.  That was after I noticed her beginning her licking (and drooling) and stuffed her anti-nausea pill and benedril down her throat. Of course, they were in perfect condition.

She kept being upset until about midnight. We went to bed, but she was still restless.  And Mr Personality had a temper-tantrum over the whole thing because he wanted to get up at 5 to go hunt.  So I slept fitfully all night.  I had to be up early because they were coming to do the annual heater check between 8:30 and 9.  Wonderful!

That is the extent of my adventures over the last 9 or so days.  Really exciting times, right??  The upside of all this is we have at least some venison for sausage this year.  And I had to do my part.  That was getting my feet into my boots which isn't a pretty action.  My new knees don't push like they should, but I managed so I could get into the mule to go pick up the buck.

I doubt I will be back before Saturday - if then.  So have a great Thanksgiving.  As trying as it will be, it will be great to have the family together for Thanksgiving.  I wish my niece were going to be able to get here before Friday so that ALL the kids could interact.  The extended family hasn't been together in so many years.  I guess that's what happens as families grow and age.  Sad.

Peace.  (and time to chase dust bunnies)

Probably a mistake

We have many school age children in our church.  I don't know about your schools in your locality, but around these parts - they have fund raisers.  And they have fund raisers upon fund raisers.  Plus their extra things have fund raisers.  You know - the junk that the kids are rallied to sell to win prizes that in actuality come from Oriental Trading or the Dollar Store.  The ones they have to sell $1000 in merchandise to get a pencil eraser.  Yeah.  Well we have them.  ALL the kids have them.

So why am I saying that this situation is a probably mistake.  Well - simple.  One of our new members who is still being courted thinks she is the only one whose kid sells crap I guess.  She had her daughter bring her fund raiser TO CHURCH this morning.

The probably mistake here is Sister Pastor actually being one of those who bought from this child.  That opens Pandora's box in my eyes.  Ok - all the kids line up with their various wrapping papers, junky jewelry, tamales (that's a new one this year), candy, and on and on.  We will get Sister Pastor to buy your junk.

When I was teaching (yeah, here we go), I learned early on not to participate in the Girl Scout cookies and so on.  You would be surprised how they came out of the woodwork.  The real eye-opener was when my students would hit me up with the school fund raiser junk!  I could see my having to buy from 150 kids.

SO I have ranted about this now and gotten it off my chest.  And, so like the talking heads on the TV who have to explain news conferences and the like, I will summarize.  I believe Sister Pastor and the others who bought this crap really opened themselves up for something that they will regret - especially since Sister Pastor has school aged children, and this woman was really gutsy to do this.  There is a place for selling fund raisers.  Church is not one of those places.

amen.

Hmmmmm ...

I think we are at the "too much together time" once again.  I am finding myself getting really p*ssed with G.  He was mumbling about no place at the table this morning.  Yeah, it was cluttered.  I will admit it.  Never claimed to have OCD about house keeping.  There is a lot more things in this world.

So I decided to get at picking up the remainder of the mail and junk that has accumulated since our world travel.  As I was going though things, I came to a great realization.  A lot of the crap was crap that you-know-who had just put on the bar or the table.  Hmmm - so I am  not the only one.

As I went on, I found other bits of stuff he had not done anything about.  Just put it on the table or bar.  I don't know what he intends for that stuff.  I AM getting the idea that it is there for me to disposed of.  I didn't know I was the only one who could get rid of stuff.

Speaking of stuff that builds up, are you being caught under an avalanche of paper?  For me it is junk mail and newspapers.  I swear those little pieces of paper are breeding at night.  I know there is more than when I went to bed.

I know it would be a help, and the thing to do, to deal with the junk mail as soon as it hits my hands.  I do - sometimes.  As for the newspapers - I never know when he is through with them.

Enough of that rant and on to another.  My danged embroidery machine has pulled its normal routine.  The clock is ticking.  I have the craft show on the 2nd of December.  We are going to the SSB from the 16th to 26th.  The stupid machine is having a snit fit.  And since the store is recovering from the huge Quilt show here, I know they are backed up in repair.  It will be in the shop for at least two weeks.  Then I am gone for 10 days.  And then - THE SHOW.

It all started with the thread not engaging with the first stitch.  I learned quickly to hold onto the end.  Now it will stitch for five stitches after making a grinding sound and stop.  I have changed needles, bobbins, and bobbin thread.  I don't know what else to do.  Although I will try one more thing - a simple thing like re-threading the machine - before I haul it off.  Bah-humbug!

TGIO(over)

Yes - most of the hoopla is now over.  Election day is here, and all the rhetoric should stop.  I HOPE SO.

This blog is not my place to bring in politics.  I do have a stand, but I don't want it brought up here.  The divide in our family is bad enough.  I listen to the arguments at Sunday dinner often enough.  I want a quiet, peaceful place here.

I have come to hate the political system, and I have ranted about that here before.  So that is a dead horse I choose not to beat once again.

I have been forgetting to make a correction.  I should know better than to do this, but I did it.  English has to be one of the most difficult languages to learn.  Spelling at least is difficult for English.  We have too many words that sound alike.  Last week when I was lamenting the hurricane, I realized after I had published it that when I wrote about a pier being washed away, I wrote peer.  Stupid, stupid.  My fingers just completely dislocated themselves from what little brain I have left.  So the wrong word when in there.  I have a mental vision of a person being ripped from the sand and sent into the sea from what I wrote.

It is all to easy when the words are flowing to use the wrong form of two, too, to.  That is just one that easily comes to mind.  Then there is they're, their, there.  See what I mean?

So thank you for not jumping on my mistake.  I make this promise to you:  my repressed English minor with emphasis on grammar will not grade your posts if you don't grade mine.  I especially fear the dreaded :"comma blunder" that would  be an automatic "F!"

Mornin' all

I am still distressed by the ravaged results of the storm.  My heart goes out to all who suffered such loss.  I can give absolute sympathy.  It is such a helpless feeling, but I know how strong the human spirit it - especially if you live in a coastal area.  Prayers of healing to you all.

In other things - my mind is still not fully back home.  I still can't believe we are home for a three weeks.  Yesterday I went upstairs to work on a lovey I promised a neighbor at the SSB.  I completely forgot she had asked for it for a friend.  I gave her one for her granddaughter.  It is the favorite toy.  So, got that done.  Then I began working on the battery operated tea light covers for the craft show here in our little village.  Hope it doesn't snow/rain/or knee surgeries this year!

I am finally doing laundry today - for me.  I am ashamed to say that I have enough clothes for three weeks - well actually two I guess since I have a complete wardrobe at the SSB - and still have clean clothes for this week at least..  Yet - I still say the old thing of "I don't have anything to wear. Need to get over that!

I laugh at G when we travel however.  He leaves with two suitcases - one not completely filled.  He returns with two empty suitcases, but a plastic bag for clothes worn for almost each day we have been gone.  I don't know what he thinks will happen if something that has been worn dares to touch anything not worn.  My clothes don't get THAT dirty.  Plus I travel with clothes packed into the zippered bags that bedding and the like comes in.  I realize you have to plan and RE-FOLD your used clothes rather than wadding it into the little plastic laundry bags from the hotel, but it works.  I just laugh when we get home.  The back of the Highlander was filled with little plastic bags!

I have finally succeeded in going through all the mail that had piled up.  Guess where most of it went - the recycling, trash, or was shredded.  Very little of it was important.

There was one that was important.  We had Vivint as an alarm company for two years.  I planned to keep them for only two years because I feel as though I was duped by their high pressure salesman who, I thought, didn't really represent himself well.  At the time I had Brinks.  I thought he was from Brinks.  So I sucked it up - and continued for the duration of the contract.

At the end - we called to cancel.  They kept us on hold for over 30 minutes.  We called back and finally talked to someone.  They said send a fax.  We sent a fax.  Then it was send a letter.  We sent a letter.

Having real suspect thoughts about the company, I went to the bank and paid to have the automatic debit from the bank account stopped because it was too close to bill time.  We then went ahead to have another system put in.  While that was going on, we got a phone call from Vivint that the alarm was sounding.  I told them that we cancelled their system, and yes - it was being ripped out to be replaced.

Then a paper bill came.  So we send another letter - registered mail.  When we got home from the SSB, there it was - another bill.  For over $150.  I called.  The first person I talked to denied hearing from us at all.  The second admitted there was a call - no letters, no fax.  Then he said that the contract had the date of July 10 as the last time to cancel the August 10 date which was the end of the contract.  He wanted me to try to get out of our new contract so he could cut me a deal.  In other words - I was in another two year contract like it or not.  I told him with the way their company works I would never go back to them.

As it ended up, it was that I would be turned over to a collection agency.  I told him to go right away and do that.  My credit is exemplary and his little piddling report would  not hurt me.  Besides, I don't plan to purchase something where my credit report is important!

Then yesterday another branch of that company called.  She wanted to work out a payment plan or something.  I tried to be as polite as possible telling her that I realized she was only the messenger, but I was so angry with her company I could not be very civil.  I told her also to go right ahead to do what she had to do because they would not get one penny from me.  Then I told her they could sue my estate when I died since I am 67 year old cancer survivor.  Good luck!

So if you want an alarm - please be sure you go with a big company.  They don't do this sort of thing.  I had heard of a case here where the consumer was promised the company was nation wide since he would be moving out of state.  They don't cover his new area and are .... wait for it ... demanding payment for the remainder of the contract.  I can't remember the resolution of that one - wish I did.  Wouldn't surprise me if it weren't Vivant!